It proved a great day for opportunistic fishermen and lucky seagulls as hundreds of mackerel were stranded on two Cornish beaches today (Monday, September 24).

Up to 300 mackerel were stranded in a small pool of water on St Ives harbour beach earlier today.

St Ives Videos, which posted footage on Facebook, stated: “This won't be a first but it's rare. Two or three hundred mackerel failed to consult the tide timetable - a costly miscalculation. Only a few mature ones were taken, the tiddlers will be okay when the tide comes in.”

Some wily fishermen made the most of the unusual incident, but only took fish measuring 12 inches or more, as it’s illegal to remove anything smaller than that.

The stranded mackerel on St Ives harbour beach

One person commented: “Dreadful and shameful. Can’t believe all the zombies standing around filming, while the greedy and obviously non-starving idiots catch the poor souls that are desperately trying to get back out to sea.”

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Lisa, who filmed them, tweeted: “This happened just before sunrise this morning. First there were a few like this and then the beach was full of them (tried to rescue them) … the seagulls had a great breakfast.”